WORTHINGTON -- The Luverne Cardinals girls' tennis team took down the Trojans 6-1, sweeping all four singles matches, on a cold and blustery Monday afternoon in Worthington.
"Our experience at singles showed again today," LHS coach Greg Antoine said. "All four seniors played very well in the wind and the cold. We were more offensive today. We hit a lot of passing shots for points when Worthington came at us at the net."
In No. 1 singles, Luverne's Kaitlin Wohnoutka took the first set over Kate Lesnar 6-0.
"She was running up to the net a lot and I was able to get my passing shots low and just skim the net which was hard for her to return," Wohnoutka said. "My movement back and forth and my ability to hit short shots, plus deep shots allowed me to take those sets."
Wohnoutka closed out the match with another 6-0 win, beating Lesnar two sets to none.
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"I thing I will take away from this match is, if the conditions are perfect you have to work around it," Wohnoutka said. "And if a shot is working for you, just stick to that shot."
In No. 2 singles, the Trojans' Emily Williamson fell to Emily Robinson 6-1, 6-3.
"Overall I knew they were going to be tough," WHS coach Mike Marquardt said. "I don't think the score really reflects how we played either."
At No. 3 singles, Katie Eeten of Luverne took down Kirsten Aljets 6-1, 6-4.
"We are making games with our serves and our ground strokes," Marquardt said. "But it is going to come down to whether or not we can finish."
The No. 4 singles match was closer than it looked with Luverne's Emilee Johnson matching up with Laura Wetering of Worthington. Johnson was able to take the first set 6-0.
"We went to deuce a lot, so even though my scores were 6-0, 6-2, I felt like we were a lot more even than that," Wetering said. "She was putting a lot of spin on her balls and I am not used to playing someone who does that. So I had to adjust to that and the wind."
The second set was closer at 6-2, but Wetering felt she was able to adjust to how Johnson was playing.
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"I was able to adjust to her serve and the way she played," Wetering said. "My returns on serve were a lot better and I was able to hit more down the line. I need to work on finishing off points, because if I could do that I would have gotten a lot more of those deuces."
At No. 1 doubles, the Trojan team of Elizabeth Luke and Rachel Drietz fell to Kynzie Smedsrud and Paige Adams. Adams and Smedsrud took the first set 6-2.
"We dealt with the wind pretty well," Smedsrud said. "We tried to stay with a positive attitude to keep each other going even after a bad shot."
In the second game, Smedsrud and Adams were able to close out the match, winning 6-3.
"We try to keep each other upbeat and keep each other positive," Adams said. "We like to play the second set just like the first set and not get too excited."
The No. 2 doubles team of Brianna Erickson and Mckenzie Wenninger took down the Trojans Annie Lesnar and Brianna Kempema 6-4, 6-2.
The Trojans picked up their only win of the day in No. 3 doubles with Makensie Carstensen and Sarah Janssen beating Lexi Severston and Tatiana Gust in three sets. Carstensen and Janssen lost the first set 4-6, but took the second set 6-1.
"I am really competitive, and so is [Carstensen]," Janssen said. "We just keep talking and communicating to keep ourselves up."
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In the third set, Severston and Gust took a lead early in the game but Carstensen and Janssen picked up their game and won the set 6-4.
"We just kept saying to ourselves that we didn't come this far to lose the third set," Carstensen said. "We just wanted to be competitive and get the win."
At JV singles, Ashely Jansma faced off against Luverne's Monaya Hustoft, but Jansma ended up losing 8-2. Also in JV singles, the Trojans' team of Kelly Newman lost her match 8-2.
In JV doubles, Worthington's Kara Honius and Erika Schutte won 8-4 over Brook Nattress and Freddi Stroeh. WHS' Alicia Khatt and Miranda LeBrun won their match 8-3, while Yadira Barorgan and Paige Stewart lost 8-1.
Coral Owens and Shelby Larson won their doubles match 8-4, with Justyce Voss and Barorgan losing their doubles match 8-5. Tatyana Clark and Katilyn Brunk also lost their match 8-5.
The Trojans play at home today against Martin County West at 4:30 p.m. Luverne playing Pipestone Thursday.
